they should be warm until she got back.
She dashed down the street and around to Toby's house, anxious to learn the answer to her question and get back to the pups. She slipped in the pet flap and crept up the stairs to Charlie's room, Toby's preferred sleeping place. Sure enough, there he was curled up on the foot of the bed. She nudged him with her nose until he woke. “Luna?” he asked. “What are you doing here at this time of night?”
“I need to ask you about Caspar,” she said. “While you were exploring today, did you find out anything?”
Toby's heart sank. In truth, he had forgotten all about it. “No,” he confessed. “All I found out was that he likes to explore.”
“Oh.” Luna was disappointed. “I don't suppose exploring is his gift.”
“It could be,” Toby pointed out. “Although there's not really much opportunity in Nome for canine trailblazers.”
She groaned. “Well, we're back to square one, I guess.”
“At least we found something he likes doing besides pretending to be me.”
“I guess,” she admitted. “And it's not like he has to make a career out of it. He can always just be someone's pet.”
“True,” he agreed without much enthusiasm. “I just wish he could... I don't know, excel.”
“He will,” she said, laying a paw on his. “I don't know how, but he will.”
He sighed. “I hope you're right.”
Caspar didn't object much when Toby advised they not do any more exploring the next day. Also, perhaps out of respect for Luna's concerns, Toby held off on sharing any tales of his childhood, defaulting instead to accounts of Balto's life and the lives of his children, including Luna's father Copper.
Caspar voiced no objections, but inside he was full of questions and worries. He had nearly been killed, his father had been clawed up and bitten several times, and for what? He wasn't any closer to being like his father. Maybe he didn't deserve to, he thought privately. I was the one who wanted to go into the mill anyway.
His brothers and sisters seemed unaffected by his dismal mood. Whatever Luna had told them about their upcoming family outing, it must have been good, because they were as excited to go as all get-out. For his part, Caspar just wanted to stay at home and sulk. But how could he say so? Everyone else was so excited, even Mom and Dad. And from what he heard, the place they were going was someplace really special to his parents. He couldn't just say no. It wouldn't be right.
And so, when the day came for the trip, Toby and Luna took their progeny out to see this special place. And along with them, his heart heavy and dissatisfied, went Caspar.
Toby and Luna started roughly at mid-morning and took them out of Nome, to a mountain not very far away from town. The air was cold, and before long all the pups were riding on one or the other of their backs except for Arrow, who was too big to ride. Caspar was complaining about the trip. How much longer would they be out there? Why couldn't they do it when it was warmer? Why did they have to do this now?
“What's wrong with you?” asked Angel. “Aren't you looking forward to it?”
“Yeah,” Caspar lied, “But why do we have to do it now?”
Toby looked at him in disbelief. “Caspar, why are you acting like this?”
“Because I don't want to go,” he sniped.
Toby was hurt. That hurt, and the frustration of the past several days, came out in gruffness. “Well, you should have spoken up sooner. I'm not turning around, and neither is your mother. You'll just have to keep a stiff upper lip about it.”
Luna turned to him. “Honey, do we really want him spoiling the trip for everyone?”
He shook his head. “No, but we don't want to spoil him either.”
“I want to go back,” Caspar repeated.
“What's your deal?” asked Mel. “This is fun. We never get to go out of town unless we're visiting the Northern Lights Pack.”
“Yeah,” agreed Star. “Besides, Mom said where we're going is a great place to see the northern lights.”
“Don't forget the sunrise,” chimed in Angel. “Mom said the sunrises there are the best. You did too, didn't you Arrow?”
“Yeah, they sure are.”
“But I don't want to go,” insisted Caspar.
“Too bad,” Toby countered. “We're going, plain and simple. You'll thank us for this one day.”
“Yeah, right,” the pup grumbled.
They reached the place at almost midday, as the light of the imminent sunrise was beginning to brighten the southern sky. It was a roughly semi-circular area at the top of small mountain, cloaked in snow from a flat face of rock about fifty feet wide at its back to a sheer dropoff some fifty feet away, The only closed area on the mountain was a small cave in the rock wall. The pups sat in hushed silence five feet back from the edge of the cliff, eagerly anticipating the brief dawn and the promised view. Luna had assured them it was something they would always remember, having no idea just how right she was.
Toby took Caspar, the only one not wagging his tail, aside. “Why have you been acting this way?” he asked. “You've done nothing but complain.”
“I didn't want to come here anyway,” he pouted. “What's so great about being here?”
“Son, this place is very special to our family, especially your mother. You have no idea what it's like to be up here at sunrise.”
“Maybe I don't want to be up here,” he complained. “Maybe I want to go home.”
“Daddy!” called Bethazaar. “Come on, you'll miss the sunrise!”
Toby sighed. “Look,” he said to the obstinate pup, “Can you just try to have fun for a few minutes? We won't be here that long.”
Caspar mumbled something under his breath and allowed himself to be led back to the others. He even made himself smile a little as Luna explained how her grandfather, Balto, had found the place years ago before even his and Jenna's first pups were born. He had shown it to Jenna, then they to their pups, and then Copper, their son, had shown it to Taya, and then they showed it to theirs. “It's a family tradition,” she explained. “And now you're a part of it.”
“Mommy look!” barked Zar.
Caspar had been rather cynical about the whole thing. But when the sun peeked over the horizon, he had to admit, it was a sight. Sure, it was blinding, but what a beautiful blindness it was! The white rays of light seemed to set the very sky on fire.
“Come see!” Luna called after a moment when everyone's eyes had adjusted. She was standing near the edge, but not too close for safety. “Look!” she said as they came forward to within two feet of the cliff.
The pups stared, mouths wide open. One or two even began to laugh out loud in delight. It was just that beautiful. Hundreds of feet below them the wilderness spread out as far as the eye could see. Pine forests covered the area around the base of the mountain for a mile or two, then dispersed into open tundra, beautiful and blindingly white, spreading to meet sea or far horizon. It was a sight that made one forget all cares and simply admire this extraordinary work of art. Even Caspar, in that moment, was glad his parents had made him come after all.
The peace was not to last, however. For as Luna turned, her back feet strayed a little too near the edge.
“AAAHH!”
Before they had time even to jump from the scream, she was barely hanging on by her front paws to the cliff's edge.
“Luna!” Toby jumped forward, grabbing onto her collar and struggling to pull her back up. Arrow quickly followed suit, bracing her paws in the snow and pulling up for all she was worth. But instead of making headway, Luna only slipped back further, sliding out of her collar and barely catching it in time. Now all three of them were clinging with all their might, Luna scrabbling desperately for even enough of a crack to lodge one toenail, and Toby and Arrow fighting for all they were worth to pull her back up.
The pups gaped, not knowing what to do. And for Caspar, it was gut-wrenchingly clear as their paws began to slip that they wouldn't be able to pull her back up. If only they could dig their claws in, it would be easy, he thought. But the only way they could do that was if they were facing the other way...
“That's it!” he cried.
“What's it?” asked Zar, but Caspar was already running forward. Crouching under his dad's stomach, he pressed his front paws against the front of Toby's leg and began to push.
“Caspar, what are you doing?” asked Star.
“Helping Dad!” he grunted. But he could feel he wasn't making much headway. “Help me!”
The pups just stared at him, wondering what had seized their brother.
“If we don't, Mom and Dad and Arrow will die!” he shouted. “Help me! I need your help!”
Mel ran forward and copied Caspar's position on Toby's other back leg. “You heard him!” he yelled to the others. “Let's do it!”
The other pups ran to Toby and Arrow, crowding in wherever they could. Angel and Star took Arrow, and Mel, seeing that Arrow was having the hardest time, helped them. “Your claws!” Caspar shouted. “Dig your claws into the ground!”
And they did, sinking their hind claws into the snow and ice for all they were worth. They pushed and clawed until they felt as if they had nothing left to give. Caspar, now short of breath, looked back once to see if Luna had made